Drowning (COMPLETE)
by Sboyle92
Summary: I felt like I was drowning. Until, I woke up and saw him.


Drowning

I felt like I was drowning. Until, I woke up and saw him.

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything but my own character and the plot.**

Thump

Thump

Thump

All I could hear, for what seems like forever, was the beating of my heart, the steady thumps filling my ears, making me numb to the outside world.

It felt like I was drowning, and no one was around to save me.

But then, I saw a light behind my closed eyelids. It started as a pinprick of light but began to steadily grow brighter.

As the light consumed me, my eyelids fluttered open, a dim light in the room piercing my eyes, causing me to shut them instantly, as they were yet to be adjusted to the light as they had been encroached in the darkness for too long.

"Miss? Can you hear me?" a British voice asked.

I groaned as I forced my eyes to open again, blinking a few times to bring the blurry figures surrounding my bed to come into focus.

"W-Where-" my voice croaked out but my throat was too dry, causing me to cough.

A straw was held to my lips, which I sipped from greedily, the ice cold water soothing my irritated throat.

"Thank you." I whispered, the water having soothed my throat but not getting the full disuse out of it, making it hard for me to talk louder at the moment.

"You're welcome," a different voice than the British one sounded, causing my eyes to drift over and actually focus on the four figures standing over my bed. One was an elderly kind looking man, two of them were teenagers that looked vaguely familiar were wearing sunglasses over their eyes, and then the last-

"Why are you cosplaying as Batman, dude?" I muttered out, giving him a weird look. The man didn't even blink or outwardly react at my question. Well, he had the emotionless side of Batman down pat.

"I am not - cosplaying as Batman, whatever that is - I am Batman."

I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, right. Batman isn't real dude. Now, get with the real world and tell me where the heck I am, right now." My voice was beginning to get stronger the longer I allowed my voice to adjust to speaking. And stronger meant louder.

"Wait," the older looking teen said, interrupting the cosplayer. "Where are you from, what's your name, then we'll tell you where you are and who we are. Sound like a fair trade."

I thought it over, then shrugged.

"I'm surprised you haven't recognized me, or my dad hasn't launched a nationwide man hunt for me."

"So, you're dad is pretty well known then?"

"Uh, yeah. His name is Tony Stark, or as most people know him as Iron Man."

Silence from my audience.

"There is no one that I've ever heard of that has the superhero name of Iron Man, or whose name is Tony Stark…. most heroes like to keep their identity secret."

I snorted. "Since when? Everyone knows that the Cap is Steve, Iron Man is my dad, the Hulk is Bruce, and Thor is the god of Lightning. The only ones that people don't know the identities of are Hawkeye and Black Widow and that's because they are spies and assassins of SHIELD."

"And what group do these people consist of?" the younger kid asked this time.

"Uh, the Avengers." Blank faces. "You know, the group that teamed up about a month ago to stop the Chitarui being led by Loki from invading New York City and eventually taking over the world."

Again, silence and traded looks.

"What did you say your name was?"

"I didn't. But my name is Riley Marie Stark."

Then the Batman cosplayer stepped forward, his cowl covered eyes meeting my own.

"I am sorry to inform you this, Miss Stark… But there is no Tony Stark, Iron Man, or even the Avengers here. You are in Gotham City, more specifically the Bat Cave, as Robin and Nightwing found you while we were out on patrol and brought you back here when you weren't responding… I am Batman, the real one. Not a cosplayer. Not an imposter. The real Batman."

I was beginning to panic slightly.

"No, no you're wrong. I watch Young Justice every night on Netflix, just getting finished with the first season and watched the first episode of the second season. I'm just dreaming about all of this. This isn't real!" Now, I wasn't a hysterical person… but the fact that this could actually be real, that this could be happening, was freaking me the heck out.

"What happened to you before you woke up here?"

"I remember… I remember a bright light." I began to whisper, my thoughts drifting back. "Then a slight sensation of pain… then nothing… I remember that I was driving back to Malibu, to spend the weekend with my dad and stepmom… then that bright light, then nothing."

I was silent for a moment then looked back at Batman.

"If you're really Batman, then you're really Bruce Wayne, and that is Alfred Pennyworth. And they are Richard 'Dick' Grayson and Timothy 'Tim' Drake."

Hesitation, then with a nod from Batman, they took their respective masks are, and I was met with the faces that filled I just saw on T.V. the night before on Netflix.

I fainted. I f**k**g fainted like a pansy… Clint was never going to let me live this down.

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 _Three Months Later_

I ran through the halls, trying to stay out of reach of my pursuers.

"You'll never catch me!" I shouted, only to squeak when I ran into a hard chest.

"Gotcha! Hey, Bruce, Tim! I got her!" Dick exclaimed as he held me tightly to his chest.

I struggled against him.

"Dick! Let me go!" I slurred, trying to keep my hold of the bottle in my hand, but when Bruce joined in restraining me, and Tim taking the bottle from me, I began to sob. "Just let the pain end! Please! I want to go home!"

"Riley! You don't know if dying here is the way to return home." Dick said, his voice straining in trying to hold me still. But I was taught by a super soldier, two master assassins, and a demigod how to fight. Even with Bruce's help, I was giving both of these heroes a workout.

"I'm willing to risk it though!" I snarled.

"And we're not." Bruce said with finalty, getting my arm to hold still enough for Tim to inject a sedative into my veins.

"You f**kers." I managed to get out before I blacked out.

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 _Two Months Later_

"You can't keep doing this, Riley!" Dick shouted as he tried to drag me away from yet another possible dangerous experiment that could take me back to my world.

"And why not?! It's my life, Dick! My family that is most likely tearing the world apart looking for me. So why shouldn't I try every possible way to return to them, huh?"

Suddenly, he pulled me into him, looking deep into my brown eyes with his own blue.

"Because I love you." Before kissing me. Surprisingly, or not so depending on how you looked at it, I kissed him back.

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 _One year later_

"I'm so happy that we are able to be together now." Dick said, his voice causing shivers to run down my spine.

I snorted, looking up into his deep blue eyes.

"I know what you mean. We finally stopped the Reach, Bruce isn't under persecution from the galaxy from when had had been under the Light's control, and everything has finally calmed down."

Dick smiled down at me, even as his eyes dimmed with the grief of the last few months.

"If it hadn't been for Wally…"

"Hey, what happened to Wally was in no way your fault, Dick. He chose to be a hero, he chose to be there. You didn't ask him for any more then what he was willing to give."

Dick sighed and ducked his head, his forehead resting on my own.

"I know." He whispered. "But it's so hard, just the thought of him not being here is killing me."

"I know, Dick."

There was silence between us… then, I heard it.

"Do you hear that?" I asked, hearing a faint but familiar voice call my name.

"Here what, Riley?" Dick asked me curiously, holding me in his strong embrace.

"That voice… it's saying my name." The voice had begun to grow louder.

"Riley…up! Riley… please!" the voice continued to call.

"No, Ri. I don't hear anything," Dick said. But I could barely hear him as more words broke through, like I had just poked my head up through water and I was able to hear what the voice was saying clearly.

"Riley, come back to us! Wake up, please, Riley!" an extremely familiar voice cried tearfully.

"I… I think that's my mother, Dick, calling for me."

"What?" Dick asked, his beautiful face confused.

"I have to know, Dick, I have to know if that is really my mom calling for me." I plead, trying to get out of his arms but he was too strong.

"Wait, no! You're not leaving me, Riley. I don't think I could survive it if you left me. I've barely survived the loss of Wally, I won't be able to handle the loss of you."

I sighed, running my hand through his black, silky locks.

"I could never fully leave you, Dick. You're the love of my life, the other half of my soul. The Nightwing to my Nighthawk."

Dick sighed but finally let me go. But as soon as he did, a bright light filled my vision, reminiscent of the one that preceded to cause me to wake up in Dick's world. I knew that there was a possibility that this could be a sign that I was returning home, to my dad, to the Avengers, to my step mom…. But I found I didn't want to go, didn't want to leave Dick, and Bruce, and Tim and Alfred. They had become my family in this new world, Dick the love of my life. I found I didn't want to lose that, but I really wanted to be able to see my other family one last time.

I began to panic as I felt myself begin to disappear, becomming weightless.

"I love you, Dick!"

And with a gasp, I closed my eyes and opened them again, my eyes falling onto those of my stepmom and dad standing beside me, the others standing around the room.

"She's awake!"

Awake? I puzzled internally, which showed on my face.

"Honey, you've been in a coma for about a week after you were in a car accident."

A week… It's only been a week?

"A week? No, I've been gone for over a year now." I rasped out. Everyone exchanged puzzled looks but then Bruce seemed to understand what was going on.

"I've read some studies where coma patients can have very vivid dreamscapes while locked inside their minds, making it seem as real to them as the real world is to us. Sometimes, the time inside their minds is different to the one of the body."

I felt grief begin to consume me. "It wasn't real?"

"I'm afraid not, little one."

I began to sob, wishing now that I had never woken up. Although I knew that it was fake, the loe I had felt for Dick and the Batfamily had felt real, especially my love for Dick.

I felt my stepmom draw me into her arms. "Shh, it's going to be okay, Riley. Everything's going to be okay."

I shook my head.

"No, nothing is ever going to be okay again."

linebreak

I sighed, snuggling into my pillows, turning Netflix on. Something I haven't done since I got home from the hospital three months ago.

I saw that on my 'previously watched' column, Young Justice had popped up.

I took a deep breath and clicked on it, opening it.

"Miss Stark, I thought you ought to know that I took the initative to learn as many things as I could about your show, and it turns out that DC comics had two different season two's but they've only aired one of them. But luckily, they had the other season saved online and I was able to access the unaired season. Would you like to watch it, Miss Stark?"

I thought about it, then shrugged. "Eh, why not, Jarvis."

The lights of my room dimmed immediately and then my tv began to play.

As the first episode of the unaired season played, I began to feel a slight sense of dejavu for some reason. But I didn't think anything of it. I should have.

By the end of the episode, I knew exactly why I had felt that. I gaped at the screen.

"Jarvis, please tell me I didn't just imagine that I was just on that episode?"

"Miss, I am just as baffled as yourself. Would you like to continue?"

"Yes." I exclaimed quickly. I needed to know that what happened in my mind during my coma hadn't been just my imagination. I needed to know if it was real.

By the end of the second to last episode, I knew that it was undoubtedly real, that I had truly been there. As every conversation, every action that I had done was an exact copy of what these episodes were showing.

As I watched the last episode, with me disappearing and Dick breaking down, I began to break down too. The two of us were separated by different dimensions, neither knowing how or if we would be seeing each other again… But I now knew one thing, I was going to do whatever I could to go back to him, even if it killed me.

linebreak

"Riley?"

"Hello, Dick. I'm home."

Laughter on the edge of being hysterical from the man who was crushing me to his chest.

"Yes, yes you are. You're home, you're finally home."

THE END


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